Facing The Past
by Broadway Magic
Summary: Oh yeah, Sam Carmichael can survive a coupla days on a little Greek island without realizing he's a candidate for a "potential father"...but can he survive his toughest challenge yet...his EX!?
1. Default Chapter

Sam glanced around. The Taverna was fairly empty, Sophie was still somewhere on the mainland with Sky, Harry was gone, and Rosie and Tanya took Donna out singing. Sam smiled. With her daughter on her own, and a husband to support and take up the reins when needed, Donna took some much- needed time to enjoy herself. She began practicing in the bedroom, mostly when she thought Sam wasn't watching. But he did. He leaned against the doorway and watched as she danced around with a hairbrush, her silver hair spinning around her, vibrant as can be, her voice reaching each crevice of the room.  
  
"Penny for your thoughts, Sam," Bill's voice cut in. "Sam!" Sam snapped his head up. He smiled.  
  
"Yeah, Bill?" Sam said, somewhat dazedly.  
  
"Sam, when you come from Donna-land, follow me," Bill said with a grin. Sam stared at him, then smiled sheepishly.  
  
"Am I that obvious?" Sam said. Bill nodded.  
  
"Yep. Now come on. We have a new customer who wants a word with the manager."  
  
"But I'm not." Sam started.  
  
"Is Donna here?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Is Sophie here?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Then, as master of the house, you're the boss, now go!" Bill gave him a shove. "And get that look out of your eyes!"  
  
"Yeah, yeah," Sam laughed, heading off. He approached a woman with several bags, who was looking around. Suddenly, something barreled into him. "Whoa!"  
  
"Daddy!" a boy exclaimed, grinning into Sam's face. Daddy? At that moment, Sam's heart dropped to his stomach.  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm not." Sam said hastily. "You must mean someone else."  
  
"Sam? Sam CARMICHAEL?" a voice exclaimed.  
  
"Can I help.." Sam's voice trailed off and ended with a short intake of breath.  
  
"I knew Luke wouldn't call anyone Daddy," the woman said. Her gaze was gentle. "I didn't expect to see you here, but after we divorced, I didn't expect to see you anywhere."  
  
Trapped.  
  
Trapped like Donna when she first saw Bill, Harry, and Sam together in the same room.  
  
Trapped.  
  
Trapped like Sophie when three men were convinced they were going to walk her down the aisle, each convinced that they were her father.  
  
Trapped.  
  
Sam Carmichael was trapped. Trapped on a small Greek island with his son smiling at him, and his ex-wife calm as could be.  
  
"Where's, uhh, where's Ryan?" Sam choked out finally.  
  
"That's my hello?" The woman looked surprised. "Ryan needed to use the bathroom."  
  
"Why are you here?" Sam asked flatly.  
  
"I'd like to get my room, please," the woman said. Sam nodded, and resumed in a business-like manner.  
  
"Pepper, could you get Ms. Taylor's bags to her room please?" Sam asked the dark skinned young man.  
  
"Yeah, Sam, but."  
  
"Pepper."  
  
"I'm going." Pepper smiled at Ms. Taylor, and whisked her bags off.  
  
"DAD!" Ryan ran over and hugged his father in shock. Bill, passing by, raised his eyebrows at Sam. Sam shot him a pained look. Bill shrugged helplessly, and walked on. Sam gave his other son a quick hug, and turned to the woman.  
  
"I heard so much about Donna Sheridan, that I knew I had to see her!" the woman explained.  
  
"Lorraine," Sam addressed her for the first time by name. "I've been here long enough to know there is no Donna Sheridan on this island."  
  
"But she's all over the papers, the news!" Lorraine insisted.  
  
"The only Donna I know," Sam said quietly. "Is Donna Carmichael. She's quite the singing sensation." Lorraine stared at him.  
  
"You don't waste a second, do you?" she muttered.  
  
"Normally, I wouldn't," Sam admitted. "But I fell in love with Donna while you and I were engaged. I did the right thing, Lorraine, by getting divorced. I couldn't love Donna and be with you. I returned to this island, but Donna was with someone else."  
  
"So you came scampering back to me?" Lorraine spat.  
  
"No. I received an invitation to a wedding from Donna. Actually, it was from her daughter. But that's a whole other ball game." Sam didn't want to go into that. "Excuse me," Sam said as he saw Bill gesturing wildly at him. Sam jogged over.  
  
"Sam, I don't know what's going on." Bill started.  
  
"It's Lorraine, my ex-wife!" Sam said shortly. Bill's mouth dropped open.  
  
"God, Sam, now is not a good time!" Bill whispered. Sam's eyebrows shot up. "They're back."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"The women."  
  
"God, no," Sam whispered.  
  
"Where's Sam?" Donna frowned. "He should be covering for me, right?" Rosie shrugged.  
  
"I'm going to see Bill," Rosie shaded her eyes. "Ooh, that doesn't look good." She gestured toward where Bill and Sam were having a heated discussion.  
  
"You check it out, I'm going to help out that customer," Donna said. Tanya already was off to sunbathe or something. Rosie nodded and headed toward Bill, Donna went to the customer.  
  
"You must be Donna Sheridan!" the customer exclaimed. "I'm Lorraine Taylor." Donna smiled.  
  
"Donna Carmichael, I got married," Donna introduced herself. Lorraine's eyes narrowed slightly, and she nodded.  
  
"I know, I spoke with your husband." Was Donna imagining things, or was Lorraine emphasizing the word 'husband.'?  
  
"Oh, you spoke to Sam? Then you're settled in?" Donna was relieved that she could trust Sam with these matters. Then she spied two young boys peeking from behind Lorraine.  
  
"I was divorced recently," Lorraine noted. "Must be wonderful to have a man around."  
  
"Sam is wonderful," Donna agreed. "It took us 20 years to come together again, all do to my daughter's scheme to have her father walk her down the aisle."  
  
"Sam is your daughter's father?" Lorraine asked sharply. Donna sighed.  
  
"We don't know. That's why Sophie, my daughter, invited three former lovers of mine to the wedding."  
  
"So, Sam was just a random pick?" Lorraine asked.  
  
"No," Donna shook her head. "My daughter called off the wedding at the alter, Sam decided it would be a shame to waste a perfectly good wedding, and he proposed."  
  
"How romantic!" Lorraine exclaimed. "Far better than how he proposed to me!" Donna's head began to spin as things pieced together. Two kids.a curious woman..  
  
"Donna," Sam placed his hands on her shoulders, having heard the last bit. "Come with me. Bill and Rosie will figure things out here." He needed to get away, needed to separate Donna and Lorraine. Donna's eyes were burning with an intense fire. Not jealousy.but surprise. The very look that filled her face when first confronted with Sam, Bill, and Harry.  
  
"Sam, I know she has every right to be here," Donna said as she sat down. "But why is she here?"  
  
"She came to see Donna Sheridan perform," Sam replied as he brushed a strand of hair from her face. "She just didn't expect to see Donna Carmichael."  
  
"But I'm still the same person," Donna said shortly. Sam smiled.  
  
"To us, yes. To her.you're married to her ex-husband," Sam said.  
  
"Does she kiss, like I used to kiss you?" Donna sang softly. "Does it feel the same, when she calls your name?"  
  
"No," Sam shook his head. "Kissing as an obligation is one thing. Kissing when you're in love is another, Donna." He kissed her gently.  
  
"I love you, Sam," Donna said.  
  
"Ditto," Sam grinned.  
  
"Your kids are cute," Donna remarked idly.  
  
"Yeah," Sam smiled. "They're great." His smile slipped for a moment. "This is going to be tough on them, having their mother and father on the same island."  
  
"Sam," Donna hesitated. "How did they take the divorce?" Sam looked down at his hands.  
  
"Luke took my side, claiming that Lorraine was scaring me off. Ryan, the older one, was a bit more subdued. He watched a lot of TV and was convinced I was leaving for another woman."  
  
"Was he right?" a wry smile tugged at the corners of Donna's mouth. Sam cupped her face in his hands and studied her seriously.  
  
"He couldn't have been more so," he said quietly. They sat quietly, when Donna snapped her head up, a look of surprise on her face, and she jumped up.  
  
"This is bad for business, Mr. Carmichael," she scolded lightly.  
  
"What."  
  
"We'll lose customers if word gets around that the manager leaves at the slightest feeling of discomfort!" she threw her hands up in mock exasperation. "This is what I get for leaving you in charge for a bit."  
  
"Donna!" Sam sat down hard on the bed, staring at his wife. A quick, teasing glint in her eye told Sam that she was just joking. He leapt up, grabbed her from behind and tossed her light body onto the bed. Grinning up at him, Donna felt better than she had in, well, twenty years.  
  
"Oh, and Sam," Donna said absently, running her hands through his hair.  
  
"Mm," Sam mumbled.  
  
"You're going out to tend to our newest customer."  
  
"No, Donna!" Sam pulled up and stared at her.  
  
"Yes, Sam. You can't run from the past forever."  
  
"Sure I can," Sam rolled onto his back. "This isn't fair, Donna." Donna propped herself on her elbow and rested her chin on her hand.  
  
"Oh, and being faced with three former flames in one room at one time is fair?"  
  
"Touché," Sam commented. "Okay, I'll do it.but remember one thing." Donna looked at him. "You had a drill." Sam got up and trudged off to face his past.  
  
((Author's Note: Recap. I made a mistake.LOL.Emily's name has been changed to Lorraine. In the play, that was her actual name ( Oopsie daisies)) 


	2. A Dream that LivesDoes Not Involve The K...

"Sam!" Lorraine ran forward, her long dark hair pulled into a ponytail, a baseball cap on her head.  
  
"Lorraine, hi. I was just coming to look for you," Sam smiled and pushed his hands into his pockets. "We need to talk."  
  
"Sure," Lorraine seemed much more relaxed and comfortable, like the woman Sam remembered her as. "Everything OK?"  
  
"I'd like to think so," Sam said as they took a seat on a bench by the water. "Where are Ryan and Luke?"  
  
"Oh, they went with Eddie and Pepper to test out some bagpipes." Sam groaned and buried his head in his hands with a strained laugh. "What?"  
  
"The bagpipes..nevermind. That's beside the point," Sam's throat seemed suddenly dry, but Donna was right. He had to face his past. "Lorraine, why are you really here? Don't tell me it was just to see Donna perform." Lorraine paused and sighed.  
  
"Alright, I won't say that. You know me too well." Sam made a sound in his throat, but said nothing. "I'll come right out with it."  
  
"Okay." Sam said slowly.  
  
"I'm going to Paris to pursue my dream of being an artist," she said firmly. "You came to Greece to pursue your dream-Donna."  
  
"Hey, I didn't know." Sam protested.  
  
"Give me a break! You saw an invitation from Donna Sheridan, and you left so fast one would think you had fire on your heels."  
  
"Lorraine, please. We were divorced!"  
  
"But you still had two boys who adore you," Lorraine shot back.  
  
"Don't turn this on the boys!" Sam scowled.  
  
"This is about the boys!"  
  
"How so?"  
  
"Because.you need to take care of them!" she shouted finally.  
  
"What?!" Sam jumped up.  
  
"I'm going to Paris ALONE, Sam. And I'm staying there. I'm starting a new life, as you have. I love these kids with all my heart, but there's a piece of me missing. I'll come back for them soon," Lorraine said in a soft voice.  
  
"Sophie isn't even back from the mainland. I need to spend time with her. And Donna. I have a family now, Lorraine," Sam's voice toned down.  
  
"Ryan and Luke are still your family. You're going to turn them away?"  
  
"Of course not! I need to think this over."  
  
"Translation: I need to talk to Donna," Lorraine said.  
  
"Well, yeah, but."  
  
"Save it, Sam. I can't believe you're going to refuse your own kids!"  
  
"I NEVER said that!" Sam exclaimed. Lorraine stood up.  
  
"I'm going to unpack," she said simply. Sam could only stare after her retreating back. He was NOT turning his back on Ryan and Luke. How dare Lorraine make him out to be some kind of monster? How could he say no? These were his boys, after all. Donna couldn't turn them away. She wouldn't.  
  
Then, there was Sophie.  
  
Sophie had such a good heart. She was inquisitive and good-natured. Sam doubted she would mind two kids, but it was the fact that they hadn't been able to spend time together since the wedding. She seemed thrilled with the aspect of gaining a father.  
  
Ryan.  
  
He was smart, and had great perspective on life. He was quick to catch onto anything. Ryan was friendly, had a great sense of humor, but was reluctant to accept a lot of change. Luke.  
  
Luke was Ryan's shadow. Whatever Ryan did, Luke would. Luke was a mush, always eager for hugs and love.  
  
Sam sighed, and raked a hand through his hair. He suddenly felt drained. He trudged back toward the Taverna. Ryan saw him and raced up to him.  
  
"Dad!" he was beaming from ear to ear. "Watch this!" He ran back and returned dragging the bagpipes. The sound filled Sam's ears, and he tried hard not to wince.  
  
"Great, Ryan." Sam smiled.  
  
"And that SOUND is what I come home to?!" 


End file.
